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  • From: "HFQ Records" <hfqrecords AT gmail.com>
  • To: ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Caltrop's World Class - CD Release Party - Friday, July 18th
  • Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:17:08 -0400

*Caltrop's World Class - CD Release Party!!
Friday, July 18th
9:30pm
@ Local 506

With The Curtains of Night and Diamond Studs!
*

About *World Class*:

Since the days of Black Sabbath, the promise of heavy rock music has been
this: that a perfect series of riffs, reinforced by a tightly-wound
rhythmic unit, can deliver very real psychedelic effects, forcibly altering
one's conscious state of being. Though post-modern doomsters have toyed
with elements of the formula (witness: Earth, Melvins, Isis, etc), the
principle importance of the mono-riff has remained intact. *World Class*,
the debut full-length from North Carolina's *Caltrop*, is wildly -- even
transcendently successful because the band's exhilarating performances are
rooted in the awareness that their music has an uncanny, historically potent
power. Indeed, *Caltrop's* impeccable arrangements deliberately suggest a
sort of ascendant scaffolding, the very foundation necessary for the
audacious work of spiritual transformation.

By any measure, *Caltrop's* musical agenda is a daunting one. But the
band's essence has been distilled -- through the calculated ambition of
experience -- into a pure, uncompromising force of nature. Today, there is
no stopping them. *Caltrop's* members -- *Sam Taylor* (guitar, vox), *Murat
Dirlik* (bass, vox), *Adam Nolton* (guitar), and *John Crouch* (drums) --
cut their teeth over the past decade in a cadre of North Carolina's hardest
hitting combos (El Sucio, Hazerai, Pegasus, Red Smokes White, Country
Bears), and their work in those bands has paid off with impressive chops and
an almost impossible tightness. It is no surprise, then, that
*Caltrop's*achievements have become noted internationally: Of their
eponymous EP
(self-released in 2006), Teardrop Explodes'
glam-guy-turned-krautrock-expert-turned-shaman
Julian Cope says, "These gentlemen unfold into areas only the most confident
of motherfuckers dare take their shit. And while the drumming is truly
something else, the hugely varied guitar playing sways from bilious,
cyclical twin lead riffology to 'Eruption'-style Edward Van Halen-isms of
the highest quality … Yowzah!" We couldn't have said it better ourselves.
We think *World Class* will be the greatest metal record of 2008; enjoy!

And check out the feature about Caltrop in this week's *Independent*!!


*Caltrop's World Class*
(Holidays For Quince Records)
16 JUL 2008 • by Grayson Currin

"If Chapel Hill quartet Caltrop has a weakness, it's one of audience
perception, something that's well beyond the control of any such upstart. On
the band's long-anticipated first full-length, World Class, the riffs and
rhythms explore the turbocharge and high volume of metal, and—averaging just
under seven minutes each—these seven tracks speak to obsession with both
size and stamina. Frontman Sam Taylor raises his voice, lifting laments with
an ireful semi-shout. But for its jazz-conscious thematic variations and
stainless, piercing electric blues leads, much of what makes World Class so
impressive also runs the risk of sounding thin or passé to metal fans in
2008. It's less crusty or evil or sludgy than surefooted and dynamic and
bright.

If Caltrop has a salvation, though, it's the current uprising of righteous,
metal-oriented acts roaring forth from the South. From the resurgence of
Athens' Harvey Milk and the acceptance of Savannah's Baroness to the polish
of Miami's Torche and the promise of Durham's Tooth, the top class of the
region's recent cadre of heavy acts is united in unhinged imaginations and
rangy eclecticism. Though Caltrop only shares superficially with those
bands, such acceptance could pull Caltrop ahead of the heap. At least let's
hope that's the fate of Caltrop and its World Class, arguably the best
full-length album released by any band in this state this year. With a
familiar cast of carpenters and tools (there's nothing new about two
guitars, bass and drums) working through familiar plans (especially playing
razor-sharp guitar leads and ferocious rhythms), Caltrop rebuilds
blues-based heavy metal with big eyes focused through ambition and musical
maneuvers carved in perfection. Masterfully executed and vividly captured in
Carrboro by Brian Paulson at Track & Field Studios, World Class' impressive
stature meets—nay, squashes—my quite sizeable expectations.

What's most impressive about the Caltrop of World Class is its uniform
excellence, or the feeling that everything belongs right here. Despite three
tracks that break the eight-minute mark, there's surprisingly little
upstaging or unnecessary showmanship. On an album of generous leads and
solos, Caltrop's efficiency as a band is remarkable, from the flip between
tube-amp drone and lock-time throb on "Bloodroot" to the several shifts
between headlong march and circuitous wind-ups on "Slice-O-Lator." The
spellbinding "Junn Horde" splits its Slint-eats-speakers spoils equitably:
Like a prophetic bluesman stopping at the wrong roadhouse on the right
night, Taylor assails the hawks from below: "Life is so fine and beautiful/
You destroy in war." Bassist Murat Dirlik takes a brief lead, but he mostly
motions through dark, distorted waves, letting the excellent, opposed
guitars of Taylor and Adam Nolton hulk and pirouette at will. "Ascendant"—a
nine-minute epitome of ambition and execution—ladders up and down a
laser-thin, nine-note riff, eventually aiming itself upward like a phoenix
as Dirlik and drummer John Crouch motion through a see-saw of tension.

Of particular note, though, is Crouch, who accomplishes so much so subtly
here. He fills the pockets with deep kick blasts and pervasive ride cymbal
textures, allowing himself space to duck the timekeeper role long enough to
add flourishes without losing momentum or—consistent with that
aforementioned Caltrop cohesion—spotlight his own maneuvers. His accents,
like his distended fills on "Ascendant," highlight the band's melodic
movement at large. When he speeds ahead and pulls behind the rhythm on
opener "Bad Wolf Good Wolf," his supplements remain both understated and
locomotive. On closer "With a Fire in the Middle," he taps and rolls
patiently beneath the guitars as they grind a theme into a matrix of
repetition and feedback. That steady end offers an ellipsis as a stride
piano eclipses the band. You can imagine Crouch and Caltrop hovering nearby
in the dark, poised for the next strike after such a perfect first blow."


Praise for Caltrop's eponymous EP (self-released, 2006):

"Caltrop's recent self-released 4-song demo pulls from an array of
influences that expand well beyond the region to create something which is
not only unique but a rather pleasant surprise ... With a new recording
planned in the spring I can say to keep your ears open for their next album.
In the meantime I would urge fans of doomy, dissonant rock to experience
this great little demo. Caltrop needs to be played loud so you can feel
it... so forget the neighbors, take 27 minutes out of your life and crank it
up!" -- Independent Clauses

"Caltrop's entrée combines the belief that passion can't be conveyed in
1/64th notes, but that metal--sludgy, dynamic and heavy, maybe like The
Melvins, certainly like Sleep--can tell it exactly like it is ... This is
the most cathartic thing that anyone in this band--which includes members of
The Ladderback, Continent, Valient Thorr, Kerbloki, Pegasus and El
Sucio--has released to date … Thrilling." -- The Independent Weekly

"This commingling of old-school space rock and current stoner-isms makes for
a good companion to the likes of Nebula and Totimoshi in your CD player
longing for something with muscled style and finesse." -- Left of the Dial

Get a taste here: http://www.myspace.com/caltropband
And more info here: http://www.holidaysforquince.com

Caltrop
Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies
The Curtains of Night
Un Deux Trois
Mount Moriah
Horseback
Jenks Miller (solo)


--
Heather McEntire & Jenks Miller
Holidays for Quince Records
PO Box 576 / Chapel Hill, NC 27516
HFQrecords [at] gmail [dot] com
tel. (919) 619-3600



  • Caltrop's World Class - CD Release Party - Friday, July 18th, HFQ Records, 07/17/2008

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